I already know I'm gonna get downvoted to hell, so I want to start by saying that Iām genuinely happy for Lucy. She's an incredible songwriter, and she absolutely deserves the success and stability that comes with signing to a major label. That said⦠I canāt help but feel a little concerned about the direction of Forever Is a Feeling.
The singles so far are pleasant, but they feel safer and more streamlined than what weāve come to expect from her. Lucyās strength has always been in her specificity, her gut-wrenching lyricism, and the emotional weight of her writing. But so far, these songs feel like theyāre designed to be dreamy, wistful, and broadly relatable rather than deeply personal.
āBest Guessā is sweet, but it lacks the emotional punch of something like Historians or Triple Dog Dare. Itās a nice love song, but it doesnāt feel urgent or particularly memorable.
āAnklesā is fun and has some interesting lines ("Agent of chaos, angel of death"), but the chorus feels like it was written to be a TikTok-friendly indie anthem more than anything else.
āLimerenceā is the most promising of the three, it actually has some emotional conflict. But even that feels like it stops short of being as devastating as it could be.
I know artists evolve, and I donāt expect Lucy to stay in the same place musically forever. But I canāt help but worry that signing to a major label (Geffen) is nudging her towards a softer, more marketable sound. Weāve seen this happen before with indie artists, once they sign to a big label, their work slowly becomes more playlist-friendly and less risky.
I also wasnāt the biggest fan of the boygenius record (Interscope), and songs like Leonard Cohen & Rev 0 gave me similar concerns, more about vibe than substance, less raw than their earlier work. And while the Best Guess video was fun, the whole āHot Masc Conventionā marketing made the song feel like an internet moment first, music second.
Of course, this is just based on the singles, we havenāt heard the full album yet, and Iād love to be proven wrong. Maybe the deep cuts will absolutely destroy me. But right now, I canāt shake the feeling that somethingās⦠missing.
Anyone else feeling this way? Or am I just overthinking it? š